Flourishing state of the Church of God consequent to the awful judgments predicted in the preceding chapter. The images employed in the description are so very consolatory and sublime as to oblige us to extend their fulfillment to that period of the Gospel dispensation when Messiah shall take unto himself his great power and reign. The fifth and sixth verses were literally accomplished by our saviour and his apostles: but that the miracleswrought in the first century were not the only import of the language used by the prophet, is sufficiently plain from the context. They, therefore, have a farther application; and are contemporary with, or rather a consequence of, the judgments of God upon the enemies of the Church in the latter days; and so relate to the greater influence and extension of the Christianfaith, the conversion of the Jews, their restoration to their own land, and the second advent of Christ. Much of the imagery of this chapter seems to have been borrowed from the exodus from Egypt: but it is greatly enlivened by the life, sentiments, and passions ascribed to inanimate objects; all nature being represented as rejoicing with the people of God in consequence of their deliverance; and administering in such an unusual manner to their relief and comfort, as to induce some commentators to extend the meaning of the prophecy to the blessedness of the saints in heaven, 1-10. The various miracles our Lordwrought are the best comment on this chapter, which predicts those wondrous works and the glorious state of the ChristianChurch. See the parallel texts in the margin. On this chapter Bishop Lowth has offered some important emendations. I shall introduce his translation, as the best yet given of this singular prophecy:-

7. And the glowing sand shall become a pool, And the thirsty soil bubbling springs: And in the haunt of dragons shall spring forth The grass with the reed and the bulrush. 8. And a highway shall be there; And it shall be called The way of holiness: No unclean person shall pass through it: But he himself shall be with them, walking in the way, And the foolish shall not err therein:

Verse 1. "Shall be glad" - µwy yesusum; in one MS. the m mem seems to have been added; and µw sum is upon a rasure in another. None of the ancient versions acknowledge it; it seems to have been a mistake, arising from the next word beginning with the same letter. Seventeen MSS. have µwwy yesusum, both vaus expressed; and five MSS. µy yesusum, without the vaus. Probably the true reading is, "The wilderness and the dry place shall be glad. " Not for them.

Verse 2. "Rejoice even with joy and singing "The well-watered plain of Jordan shall also rejoice"" - For nrw veranen, the Septuagint read dry yarden, ta erhna tou iordanou, "the deserts of Jordan. " Four MSS.

"Unto it" - For hl lah, to it, nine MSS. of Kennicott's and four of De Rossi's read ūl lecha, to thee. See ibid.

Verse 7. "The parched ground "The glowing sand"" - br sharab; this word is Arabic, as well as Hebrew, expressing in both languages the same thing, the glowing sandy plain, which in the hotcountries at a distance has the appearance of water. It occurs in the Koran, chap. 24.: "But as to the unbelievers, their works are like a vapor in a plain, which the thirsty traveler thinketh to be water, until, when he cometh thereto, he findeth it to be nothing. " Mr. Sale's note on this place is, "The Arabic word serab signifies that false appearance which in the eastern countries is often seen on sandy plains about noon, resembling a large lake of water in motion, and is occasioned by the reverberation of the sun beams: 'by the quivering undulating motion of that quick succession of vapours and exhalations which are extracted by the powerful influence of the sun.'-Shaw, Trav. p. 378. It sometimes tempts thirsty travelers out of their way; but deceives them when they come near, either going forward, (for it always appears at the Same distance,) or quite vanishing. " Q.

"Shall spring forth"] The h he in hxbr rebitseh seems to have been at first m mem in MS. Bodl., whence Dr. Kennicott concludes it should be µyxbr rebitsim. But instead of this word the Syriac, Vulgate, and Chaldee read some word signifying to grow, spring up, or abound. Perhaps hxrp paretsah, or wxrp paretsu, or ryxjh Årp parats hachatsir, as Houbigant reads. - L.

Verse 8. "And a highway" - The word ūrdw vederech is by mistake added to the first member of the sentence from the beginning of the following member. Sixteen MSS. of Dr. Kennicott's, seven ancient, and two of De Rossi's have it but once; so likewise the Syriac, Septuagint, and Arabic.

"Err therein." - A MS. of Dr. Kennicott's adds wb bo, in it, which seems necessary to the sense, and so the Vulgate, per eam, "by it. " One of De Rossi's has µ sham, there.

"But it shall be for those "But he himself shall be with them, walking in the way."" - That is, God; see ver. 4. "Who shall dwell among them, and set them an example that they should follow his steps. " Our old English Version translated the place to this purpose, our last translators were misled by the authority of the Jews, who have absurdly made a division of the verses in the midst of the sentence, thereby destroying the construction and the sense.

Verse 9. "It shall not be found there "Neither shall he be found there"" - Three MSS. read alw velo, adding the conjunction; and so likewise the Septuagint and Vulgate. And four MSS., one ancient, read axmy yimmatsa, the verb, as it certainly ought to be, in the masculine form.

"The redeemed shall walk there" - µylwag geulim. Those whose forfeited inheritances are brought back by the kinsman, lawg goel, the nearest of kin to the family. This has been considered by all orthodox divines as referring to the incarnation of our Lord, and his sacrificial offering. After µylwag geulim, one of De Rossi's MSS. adds µlw[ d[ ad olam, for ever, "The redeemed shall walk there for ever."

"Sighing shall flee away." - hjna anachah. Never was a sorrowful accent better expressed than in this strong guttural word, an-ach-ah; nearly the same with the Irish in their funeral wailings, och-och-on. The whole nation express all their mournful accents by these three monosyllables.